Eagle Red is one of the top mods for Red Alert 2; boasting a whole slew of new structures and units - it is seen by many as "The Best Mod for RA2"; but what does the creator of the mod think?

Jim: First Question - Have you decided whether or not Eagle Red will be made compatible with Yuri's Revenge?
Eagle: I think Eagle Red will be made compatible with YR, I'll start on it when 1.5 or 1.6 is done, but I'm not to sure just yet.
I don't like Yuri's side very much so I'm not going to be making any new units for that side. However, I'm already working on a totally new side, I just need to check out the possibilities and limitations of the RA2 engine for this. In the worst case scenario you'll get Eagle Red 2.0 that needs YR and replaces Yuri's side with a new one. In the best case, you'll get Eagle Red 2.0 with three sides for RA2 and four sides that need YR.

Jim: What is your favourite feature of Eagle Red? - Mine being the kamikaze dog :)
Eagle: That's a tough one... But it would have to be the new AI. Although the changes I've made so far are minor, it sure has improved it a lot! In normal RA2, I can beat 7 brutal enemies easily. In Eagle Red, I'm getting my ass kicked by 3 brutals. I can't wait to see what AI enhancements 1.6 will bring...

Jim: Do you, personally, play any other mods, such as DeeZire or Eradication wars?
Eagle: I tried to play Deezire 7.0 one or two weeks ago, wanting to check out that "Deevious" AI of his.
However, It never let me play a game, just crashed while loading the game...
How can a mod with so much errors be so popular? I'm not flaming here, I'm just wondering... Deezire is still a good mod. There aren't any others that I've played regularly... It can only result in stealing other people's ideas... ;)

Jim: What do you make of the supposed "Battle of the mods" between yourself and DeeZire that has been fabricated on many of the fan sites and argued over on many of the forums?
Eagle: I'm not part of those battles anymore. Of course I'm envious at Deezire's popularity, but which mod maker isn't?, You'll never hear me say "Eagle Red is better then Deezire!" again however. I've done it in the past, but I won't make that mistake again. I'll let the fans and mod players decide what mod they like best.
The only thing I hate about those "mod battles" are when people are flaming a mod they have never played. I can give you a very good example for this:
A long time ago, a friend of mine (also an Eagle Red player) posted a topic on the official RA2 forums. Topic title: "Eagle Red vs Deezire". Topic question: "What mod is better?". The only replies that topic got were things like: "Deezire is da best" and "Deezire rules" Things like that annoy me. For one, I'm sure they had never played Eagle Red, and two, if they had, they should have posted some good and debatable arguments, Just yelling "Deezire rulez!" doesn't help anyone.

Jim: When playing ER, one of my favourite units had to be the return of the cruisers and giant ants; do you feel that replication of older and fondly remembered units rather than making up your own is beneficial for mods?
Eagle: I added the Giant Ant in the beginning of the mod (V 0.95). Eagle Red 1.0 was the first version with self-made units. Before that, I could only use what other people offered or what I could rip. I made the Cruiser because I needed something to balance out the Missile Sub. I never thought of them as "old" units that way.

Jim: Do you have any "Super-Tips" on how to make a successful mod?
Eagle: You need to remember three things when you make a new unit:

Do people have a reason to build it?

Is it balanced?

Does it make another unit / building obsolete

Jim: What countries are you hoping on changing for the new version? And why are the mighty Netherlands in Eagle Red J ?
Eagle: The countries in 2.0 will be (in the RA2 version):

Allies: America, European Union and one yet to be decided one

Soviets: Russia, Libya, Iraq

Asians: China, Japan, Korea

I have no idea about the special units yet...And why the Netherlands are in the game? That's because I noticed one day that 30% of the site's visitors were Dutch; of course, it's my home country... :D

Jim: Did you really that by making the European Union in the game patriots like myself will refuse to play it any more? :D
Eagle: The Allies now have 5 countries, With 3 sides, I need that reduced to 3 countries for each side, So I had two options:

Simply remove two allied countries

Transform 4 of them into the European Union

Well, I made my decision, but don't worry, it's not like that you'll get 4 special units when you play as the EU... ;)